Cnet reported today that AOL, InterActiveCorp, investment bank Allen & Co., and The Hearst Corp. plan to invest $16.2 million in Brightcove. In addition, Barry Diller, CEO of InterActiveCorp, will join Brightcove's board of directors.
Brightcove was founded by Jeremy Allaire, who also co founded Allaire Corp, with his brother JJ Allaire. See this post about "The Brothers Allaire- Entrepreneurs Extraordinaire" to learn more about JJ and Jeremy, and the company they created, Allaire Corp.
Brightcove provides an environment for independent video producers to deliver their content directly to consumers, bypassing the traditional TV networks and channels. Video content owners are no longer beholden to the networks for distribution. Consumers can search and find the video content that interests them and build a relationship directly with the content producers. Brightcove is almost like eBay for video content, providing a market and infrastructure for producers and consumers.
Cnet reported "Program owners that upload videos to Brightcove's servers can simply opt to let Brightcove attach a 15- or 30-second commercial to their videos. Brightcove takes an estimated 30 percent cut of ad sales, according to Forrester Research estimates."
"Advertising-supported videos will cost program owners nothing to use the service. Advertisers are charged $25 per 1,000 viewers, a higher rate than the average $16 to $20 fee charged on broadcast television."
Brightcove is a BIG idea from a guy who has proven he can execute. Allaire Corp was a public company with a market cap of more than $2.5B at its peak. The company was later merged with Macromedia, where Jeremy was CTO.
The New York Times also has a story "AOL Joins Start-up Company to Offer Web Video Distribution" . Here is an excerpt from that story.
"Brightcove gives us access to content from small and medium-sized publishers and allows those publishers to get into the game with broader distribution," said Kevin Conroy, an executive vice president of AOL Media Networks. AOL, he said, will have the right to reject programs if they are inappropriate or duplicate content AOL already has."
To use the system, producers will upload their video through a Web site run by Brightcove, and specify the terms of its distribution. They can select which sites, like AOL, will have access. Eventually they will be able to select how they want to be paid. When the service starts early next year, Brightcove will offer only advertising-supported video. Later it will allow publishers to charge viewers to rent or buy videos."
Brightcove is in beta today and is expected to be generally available early next year. Keep an eye on Brightcove. My prediction is that Brightcove will be The Next Big Thing in video distribution.
Comments